Burma building nuclear weapons

Peter Green, London

ALLEGATIONS by a Burmese defector that the country is pursuing a nuclear program are corroborated by satellite images, military journal Jane's Intelligence Review says.

The photos of buildings and security fences near the capital, Naypyidaw, confirm reports by Major Sai Thein Win of machine tool factories and other plants alleged to be part of a nascent program to build nuclear weapons, the magazine reported.

''They will not make a bomb with the technology they currently possess or the intellectual capability,'' Jane's analyst Allison Puccioni said. ''The two factors do make it possible to have a route to one.''

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concern that North Korea and Burma may be expanding military ties and sharing nuclear technology, after reports from a meeting of south-east Asian foreign ministers last year.

Yesterday, Mrs Clinton announced further sanctions against North Korea to obstruct its nuclear-weapons program.

Major Sai said he worked at two factories involved in the nuclear program. His report to a Burmese opposition news website, Democratic Voice of Burma, based in Norway, included documents and colour photographs of the interior of the installations.

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In a statement yesterday, Jane's said Burma's nuclear program was ''overly ambitious with limited expertise''. While Burma has signed international agreements to control nuclear weapons use, it has not agreed to more recent changes in the treaties and therefore is not subject to international inspections, the magazine said.

''With [Burma's] current freedom from sanctions and relative economic prosperity, the junta may be able to outsource the technical know-how and tools to reach its goals far sooner than expected,'' Christian Le Mire, editor of the review, said in a statement.

''Someone had to be assisting them, that's the frightening thing,'' said David Kay, a former United Nations weapons inspector. ''[Burma] is uniquely incapable of carrying this through.''

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North Korea could be the country providing aid, said Michael Green, an adviser at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies and former senior director for Asia on the National Security Council under President George Bush.

Last year, the US Navy tailed a North Korean freighter headed towards Burma with unknown cargo. The ship turned around and returned home.